Numerous technologies and management strategies are employed by owners, distributors and providers of restricted items to control the distribution, access to and use of such restricted items, particularly in cases where property rights, copyright or other rights subsist in such items. Many of these technologies and strategies are directed at controlling the distribution, access to and use of restricted media items.
Licensing agreements are a well-known method of managing rights to media items. Such agreements typically require a consumer to enter into an agreement restricting the consumer from redistributing media or content.
Various technologies have been devised to aid owners, distributors and providers of media in preventing unauthorized redistribution of content or deterring consumers from attempting such redistribution. For example, in the case of computer software, copy protection may be provided which allows a consumer to install the software on a limited number of computers using a unique code which grants access to the software.
In addition to preventing or deterring content reproduction and redistribution, some technologies aim to prevent, among other things, the accessing, printing or altering of media. A notable example is the use of web-based permission schemes to prevent unauthorized access to media.
A notable problem associated with these and other existing media rights management technologies and strategies is that it may be difficult to determine at or near which point in time the restricted item was first distributed, accessed or used illegitimately or without appropriate authorization. In some cases, at the time when the illegitimate activities first become known to a responsible party, the restricted item may have already been made available to numerous individuals or entities.
Additionally, there may be no immediate penalty or punishment imposed on a consumer who does, for example, unlawfully redistribute media. In many cases, the redistributed media becomes available to others to such an extent that tracing an infringing entity may become difficult or impracticable. In cases where the infringing entity can be traced, finding and taking action against the entity may be a drawn out process requiring considerable legal and administrative costs to be incurred.
Therefore, known techniques and strategies may not sufficiently deter attempts to redistribute or provide access to restricted items unlawfully or without appropriate authorization. Furthermore, existing media rights management systems may adversely impact legitimate consumers. For example, fair usage of media may be restricted by preventing an entity authorized to possess media from moving the media from one personal device to another personal device, or by preventing the entity from editing certain media items.
Embodiments of the present invention aim to address these and other problems, at least to some extent.